Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to protect footpaths and rights of way in England.

Local highway authorities are responsible for protecting the rights of the public to use footpaths and other rights of way. They are also responsible for determining their own local spending priorities. However, we have recently completed the £2 million Paths for Communities Programme, creating 53.28 kilometres of new bridleway and 21.42 kilometres of new footpath – in total over 74 kilometres of new public rights of way.

We are also introducing a balanced package of rights of way reforms as part of the Deregulation Bill. Those reforms will significantly improve the processes for recording and altering the public rights of way network. The reforms make the procedures more streamlined and will help complete the definitive map and statement by the 2026 cut-off date, thereby protecting historical public rights of way from extinguishment.